Observations: A Seven Slice Pack of Bread?

I have one hard and fast rule in the kitchen. RESPECT THE BAGUETTE. It still applies in Beijing. There were no good stock photos of sliced bread, so this is what you get.

In America, we take our loaves of bread seriously. The types and makes are nearly infinite.

I’m confident there’ll be a new type of bread when we return in a few years.

Here, though, bread isn’t a serious thing. There aren’t loaves like we have back home. In Beijing groceries, instead of being greeted with a plethora of choices, you will feel lucky to have more than two choices and they come in packages containing a single-digit odd number of slices. When you buy one, you’ll notice that there are no heels, which I appreciate. It is important to note, though, the heel is a thing this farm-raised country boy learned to respect.

But, I’ve been stuck on the odd number of slices thing for the last few weeks. What’s going on there? Is there a culture of eating half a sandwich? Piling in all the goodies and then trying to keep it all contained inside a single slice of bread folded over? Do they prefer open-faced sandwiches or tartines? Are they making this assumption about our culture, knowing Western folks are typically the only ones buying this bread?

Or, and I’m not complaining about how they allocate their resources here, are the same folks deciding on slices of bread per bag the same folks who decided that the number of hotdog buns per bag and hotdogs per wrapper should be different?

Full disclosure: I will let this one vex me and not try to get to the bottom of it. It is probably too much of a hassle. But if someone else wants to take a deeper dive…have at it, hoss.

And besides, this writer could stand to cut a few carbs from his diet.